Police intercept truckload of Indian hemp in Borno

A man said to have been arrested in Borno State while transporting a truckload of dried cannabis, otherwise known as Indian hemp, was on Tuesday paraded by the police in Maiduguri.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state police command, Gideon Jubrin, said the suspect, whose name was given as Kole Aladejobi had escaped several security checks with his consignment from Akure in Ondo State before he was apprehended in Maiduguri by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Maiduguri.



When the suspect was asked why he took the decision to transport the illicit substance all the way to Maiduguri in spite of the insurgency in the area, he denied knowledge of the consignment, insisting that he was a “mechanic and not involved in the transportation of the bags of hemp.”

“I’m an auto-mechanic in Akure in Ondo State. I don’t know anything about the Indian hemp. The people who own the lorry just called me to repair the lorry in Kogi and I went. They asked me to follow them to Maiduguri in case the lorry develops fault again,” he said.

He denied having the knowledge of the content of the lorry and the whereabouts of the driver. He said he was hired as a mobile mechanic for a price of N10,000 for the trip.

The PPPRO said the suspect’s narration was all lies. He said Aladejobi was the driver and the only person in the lorry.

“Our men acted on a tip-off by a good spirited Nigerian that he suspected that a lorry that took off from Akure in Ondo State might be carrying dried weeds suspected to be Indian hemp. So we followed the lead until we intercepted him here in Maiduguri,” Jubrin said.

He said the weeds, compressed into 248 blocks, were carefully concealed in the second compartment of the green colour Mercedes Benz lorry with registration number KW 886 XA.

He said the suspect also carefully sealed-off the blocks of hemps in the lorry’s first compartment and loaded bags of cheese balls in the second compartment to conceal the substance.

He warned the people involved in such acts to desist from engaging in nefarious activities in their interest, noting that anybody caught would face the full wrath of the law.

Culled from Punch